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Honzo Build Thread - post your builds here

1M views 7K replies 665 participants last post by  David R 
#1 · (Edited)
Kona Honzo Build

2012 Kona Honzo Med.
2012 Fox F29, 120mm, RLC, Tapered, 15mm TA
Stan's Flow Wheelset with 3.30 front hub, 3.30 Heavy Duty rear hub
Maxxis Ardents: fr/2.4exo, rr/2.25
Thomson X4 70mm zero rise stem
Thomson Elite seatpost
Easton Monkeylite xc lo-rise carbon bar 27 inches
Specialized Henge Expert Saddle, ti rails
Odi Rogue lock-ons
Avid Elixirs R 185/160
Sram 991? chain
XT cranks
XT med. cage derailleur
Shimano 12-36t cassette
Niner 32t front chain ring
XT rear shifter
BBG bash
N-gear Jumpstop
Cane Creek Headset / inset top, external lower

27 lbs. 13 ounces

Here's my review after my first ride today:

Just got back from ATT and I'm really, really, happy with the bike.

First of all, I expected the front end to wander on steep climbs, but it stuck, no wandering. This has a lot to do with the steep seat tube. It felt very efficient without any discernable bottom bracket flex. I expected this because the tubes Kona uses are fatter than my old Niner MCR 9. This frame weighs 5.75lbs. where the Niner 853 steel frame weighed 4.5lbs. and doesn't have sliding dropouts. For my weight, about 200lbs., the MCR 9 was nooodly, but comfortable. I felt it absorbed a lot of my pedaling power and the head tube was extremely flexy. The Honzo is a stout frame, and I don't think you can achieve that without it weighing more. I don't notice the weight, but I do notice the power transfer and SOLID feel of the frame. Also, I expected to dab the more technical sections because I'm not tuned to this bike yet, but I cleaned them all.

After reaching the top we lowered our seats and headed back. The words that comes to mind descending on this bike are INSANELY FAWKING AWESOME. Because of the short chain stays, the bike corners like a roller coaster doing a 180. The Honzo's geometry positions you over the rear tire and the pivot point of the bike in the turns. I'm not much of a downhiller, but I was flying and not worrying about any ruts or rocks because the fork and frame just swallowed them up, very confidence inspiring. The chain stays also make coming off jumps more intuitive. With Niner's geometry I always felt like I was waiting for the rear tire when popping off curbs and jumps, but the Kona feels right on.

This is the best bike I have ever owned, period. If you're worried about frame weight, you could save about 1/4-1/2 lb. going with a Canfield Nimble 9. The geometries with 120mm forks are almost identical, but the Nimble 9 has a slacker seat tube, which may affect climbing, and it does not accommodate a tapered fork, two things I really love about the Honzo.

PS - check out this video of the Honzo in action: House of the Big Wheel Part 1: Honzo and Satori on Vimeo

IMG_1499

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#670 ·
New fork for 2013 season!

Back to my fork story, my old 2012 Fox 34 Float FIT RLC developed the dreaded CSU creaking midway through lastseason. I finally received my fork back from FOX service yesterday after sitting there for a good solid week. Either way I was only hoping for a rebuild and CSU replacement, but FOX stepped it up and offered to send me a complete new Fox 34 Float. Only choice I had to make was either the 2012 damper FIT RLC or 2013 CTD. I politely declined the CTD stuff, and went for the FIT RLC damper, but they upgraded me to the new and improved Fox Float Air spring (updated for longer travel Floats 130-180mm travel) which has been getting awesome reviews compared to the CTD damper. Definitely is going to be a more linear fork, feeling coil-like almost. And lucked out again and received black lowers as well. Reason for Fox keeping my old fork was they are doing a case study of the creaking CSU by their engineers and would have rather kept my old one whole (not too many 34s have been going back for creaking) instead of only the CSU, no problem with me on that. Once again, I've been surprised by the customer service support at Fox and will continue being their fan boy. :thumbsup:
 
#671 ·
Size

Just wanted to add to the sizing question. Im about 5-9 and had a Trance X3 in size Medium prior to the Honzo. I bought a Medium Honzo frame despite what appears to be a close match in terms of geo of the small Honzo and medium Trance. Just finished building up the Honzo and took it for a spin in the neighborhood. Medium felt perfect. I think a small may have been too compact for me. I did buy a 40mm stem because I thought the medium might be too big after reading some of the posts here. I could go to a 50mm and I believe it would still fit great. Not sure how some of the riders here who are taller than I are riding a small frame.
 
#683 ·
Ok I've been beating the crap out of mine for a year so I guess I should post up! Got some new bits i am excited about too:

2012 Honzo 18"
Rev RL fork
Deity Dirty 30 bars 760mm
Flow EX rims on Hope pro2 front, DT Swiss 350 rear W engagement Upgrade
AKA spiderless cranks w/MRP blingring 30t
Deity comp pedals
BB7 mech brakes, speeddial
Gravity Dropper Turbo sans boot
Ardent 2.4 front, Geax Saguaro rear tire

Running the stock ethirteen chainguide which still works fine with the smaller chainring...
THANKs to all of you for your posts/suggestions...this is a great forum and you all have really helped me dial in the build - really happy with the bike!
 

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#684 ·
Takin' the frame to the local shop for headtube milling and facing tomorrow. Hopefully they can git'r'done over the weekend. Brakes are in the mail. Need some 191mm spokes for a crap-tacular 20mm through-axle wheel rebuild.

Times are tough. This is a work in progress. Upgrades will be made, but I'd rather be riding it than looking at it meanwhile.
 
#688 ·
Yep. we're close in height- I'm 5-9" with a 32" inseam on my Levis, riding a small, love it. 50mm stem and 30" bars. seat height on my bikes runs 29" BB to top of saddle. The small definitely has a big-BMX bike feel, but actually doesn't feel cramped at all length-wise. The short chainstays and wheelbase are a blast- super easy to lift the front end and snap the bike around corners, unlike many 29'ers.

Something to keep in mind is that the small Honzo actually has a longer wheelbase than a medium yelli screamy, despite the honzo having shorter chainstays. Canfield doesn't post stack/reach, but that says to me the reach on the small kona may be longer than the medium canfield. Having owned both bikes I'd say that sounds about right.
 
#689 ·
Yep, and the medium has an extra inch of wheelbase over the small. Since all of the Honzo sizes have the same length rear end, this translates to an extra 25mm of front center. The top tube length on this bike is a deceptive number to go by. You want to size it based on the appropriate front center for your riding style.

Also, the fact that everybody seems to put a 140mm fork on the thing makes the Eff. TT lengths longer than advertised. So put that in your pipe and smoke it a while...
 
#696 ·
Also, the fact that everybody seems to put a 140mm fork on the thing makes the Eff. TT lengths longer than advertised. So put that in your pipe and smoke it a while...
By my precise calculations, the 20mm of extra travel has only added .1" to the ETT in my size. A whopping .1".
Photoshoped!

6'3" on a large... And really don't regret it

Xl is probably for Green giant?
I'm 6'4" on the XL. Go figure. Best fitting bike in years.
 
#716 ·
Got a local shop to do the head tube machining halfway; turns out they didn't have the over-sized reamer for their park tool.

Facing tool, yes. Reamer, no. Probably going to have them do the reaming too after seeing how far off the bottom face of the head tube was though.

Mechanic literally did a double take as he re-adjusted the mill to take off extra material. It was that far out of square.
 
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